Joint carbon footprint assessment and data envelopment analysis for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture production Ricardo Rebolledo-Leiva a , Lidia Angulo-Meza b , Alfredo Iriarte c,d , Marcela C. González-Araya c, ⁎ a School of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universidad de Talca, Camino a Los Niches km 1, Curicó, Chile b Production Engineering Department, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rua Passo da Patria 156, São Domingos, Niterói 24210-240, Brazil c Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universidad de Talca, Camino a Los Niches km 1, Curicó, Chile d Chilean Food Processing Research Center, CEAP (Centro de Estudios en Alimentos Procesados), Avenida Lircay s/n. Campus Talca, Universidad de Talca, Talca, Chile HIGHLIGHTS • Joint use of carbon footprint (CF) assess- ment and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) • Assessment of eco-efficiency with DEA output oriented models • Eco-efficiency analysis with undesirable outputs • New procedure for changing factors contributing to CF • Improvements of eco-inefficient agri- cultural practices GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT abstract article info Article history: Received 2 March 2017 Received in revised form 16 March 2017 Accepted 16 March 2017 Available online xxxx Editor: D. Barcelo Operations management tools are critical in the process of evaluating and implementing action towards a low carbon production. Currently, a sustainable production implies both an efficient resource use and the obligation to meet targets for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The carbon footprint (CF) tool allows estimating the overall amount of GHG emissions associated with a product or activity throughout its life cycle. In this paper, we propose a four-step method for a joint use of CF assessment and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Following the eco-efficiency definition, which is the delivery of goods using fewer resources and with decreasing environ- mental impact, we use an output oriented DEA model to maximize production and reduce CF, taking into account simultaneously the economic and ecological perspectives. In another step, we stablish targets for the contributing CF factors in order to achieve CF reduction. The proposed method was applied to assess the eco-efficiency of five organic blueberry orchards throughout three growing seasons. The results show that this method is a practical tool for determining eco-efficiency and reducing GHG emissions. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Carbon footprint reduction Data Envelopment Analysis Life cycle assessment Environmental sustainability Eco-efficiency Agriculture production 1. Introduction The Operations Research/Management science can provide models and tools to aid, evaluate and implement actions towards a more sus- tainable production (Gonzalez et al., 2015). In the area of the environ- mental sustainability, the literature shows several examples about the Science of the Total Environment 593–594 (2017) 36–46 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: mgonzalez@utalca.cl (M.C. González-Araya). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.03.147 0048-9697/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv